Two days into the National League Championship Series and the Milwaukee Brewers are in serious trouble.
Picking right up where Blake Snell left off in Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto shrugged off a first-pitch home run by Jackson Chourio and completely shut down an offense that roughly three months earlier had pummeled the right-hander so badly he needed to be pulled before the first inning had even ended.
Yamamoto threw the first complete game of his career, allowing three hits and a walk with the Brewers having no answers and bowing meekly, 5-1, in Game 2 at American Family Field on Tuesday night, Oct. 14.
GAME 2 BOX SCORE: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Freddy Peralta started his third game this postseason and threw 5 ⅔ innings, keeping Milwaukee in the game despite allowing a pair of home runs. But with the offense once again unable to mount any sort of attack – it’s now five hits and two runs total over the first two games – it ultimately made little difference.
Now Milwaukee finds itself staring at an 0-2 deficit in the best-of-seven series as it hops onto its charter flight to Los Angeles tonight with the next three games – if all are even needed – at Dodger Stadium, with Game 3 scheduled for 5:08 p.m. on Oct. 16.
What a start
The game couldn’t have started any better for the Brewers, as Peralta struck out both Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith in a scoreless first inning and Chourio jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Yamamoto right over the heart of the plate and belted it 389 feet out to right-center for a quick 1-0 lead.
It was the second homer of the postseason for Chourio and fourth of his career, tying him with Orlando Arcia and Prince Fielder for the franchise record.
The leadoff homer was also the third in franchise history and second in as many years for Chourio. Corey Hart hit the first in Game 6 of the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 and Chourio the second against the New York Mets in Game 2 of the teams’ 2024 NL wild-card series.
One more fun fact about Chourio: He’s now tied with Miguel Cabrera, Bryce Harper, Andruw Jones and Mickey Mantle with the second-most postseason homers ever before the age of 22.
Only Juan Soto, with five, has more.
The momentum shifts quickly
Alas, the good vibes didn’t last as two batters into the second inning Teoscar Hernández got the best of Peralta in a full count by homering to left two tie it and then with two outs Kiké Hernández singled and Andy Pages doubled down the right-field line to put the Dodgers in front, 2-1.
Peralta rebounded with a 1-2-3 third, then worked around a two-out Tommy Edman double in the fourth and a leadoff plunking of Pages with a strikeout of Ohtani and a 5-4-3 double-play grounder off the bat of Mookie Betts.
He was one strike away from completing six innings when Max Muncy swung away in a full count and sent a drive to center.
It was hit to almost the same exact spot where Sal Frelick leaped and brought his potential Game 1 grand slam back to start an 8-6-2 double play, but this time Frelick couldn’t leap high enough and the ball landed over the wall for a solo homer that grew the deficit to 3-1 for Milwaukee and ended Peralta’s night simultaneously.
The right-hander allowed five hits, three runs and a walk with four strikeouts over 97 pitches.
Offense stuck in neutral
Peralta’s counterpart Yamamoto, meanwhile, flipped on the cruise control following the Chourio homer.
Andrew Vaughn reached on an error to open the bottom of the second, Brice Turang singled with two outs in the third, Sal Frelick singled with two outs in the fourth and Joey Ortiz walked with one out in the fifth but not once did the Brewers threaten to push a run across against him.
Yamamoto’s five-pitch mix is certainly outstanding.
But what was head-scratching was the ease with which he mowed through Milwaukee’s lineup, with a seven-pitch at-bat by Jake Bauers to open the fifth – he flew out to right – the longest of the first six innings to leave Yamamoto’s count at a very manageable 76 and manager Dave Roberts with no reason to turn to his questionable bullpen.
Yamamoto finished his outing with a strikeout of Vaughn that closed a run of 14 consecutive batters retired. He struck out seven, and 81 of his 111 pitches went for strikes.
In its 9-1 victory in that July 7 game, Milwaukee forced Yamamoto to throw 41 pitches in the first inning before Roberts pulled the plug. He allowed four hits, five runs (three earned) and two walks with Vaughn’s three-run homer the big blow.
Dodgers finish it off
The Dodgers offense gave Yamamoto another run with which to work in the seventh when Kiké Hernández doubled off Abner Uribe, was bunted up to third and then scored on an Ohtani single against Aaron Ashby, who was pitching for the sixth time in seven postseason games to date for the Brewers.
Then in the eighth, Smith greeted Tobias Myers with a single, Muncy drew a walk and two batters later Edman singled in Smith making it a 5-1 game.
One minor bright spot saw Robert Gasser enter and strike out Ohtani on three pitches to finish the frame.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1: Yoshinobu Yamamoto dominates Milwaukee in Game 2
